The Chattanooga Football Club, with its 2020 National Independent Soccer Association debut season only a match old when the COVID-19 pandemic put the brakes on the sports world in mid-March, is doing its best to stay socially connected with fans and help out the community during the current crisis that has been compounded by recent tornadoes in the area. The professional team is selling limited edition trading cards featuring Chattanooga FC players of years past - including Samuel Goni, Gregga Hartley, Chris Ocheing and Luke Winter - to raise money for the American Red Cross, according to a club release. The cards, which are available at shop.chattanoogafc.com, are available in packs ranging from five to 15 cards and were originally scheduled to be released in conjunction with the team's 10th anniversary season in 2018. That release never happened, but now all proceeds will be used to support the Red Cross. "We are a community-first organization, and when our community is in need, we are determined to find ways to help," CFC managing director Jeremy Alumbaugh said in the release. "These cards feature an all-star lineup of players from our first 10 seasons of play, and they highlight all the great memories that we've had with the community we love." With NISA's schedule suspended through at least May 10, CFC is also continuing its "rewind" series by showing historic matches on its official YouTube channel. The next three are on Wednesday (USASA national final against Michigan Bucks from May 30, 2015), on Saturday, May 2 (NPSL regular-season match against Memphis City FC from June 4, 2016) and on Saturday, May 16 (NPSL regular-season match against Inter Nashville FC from June 17, 2017), with each starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday's match will include an auction for items such as "fan experiences" and game-worn jerseys, according to a CFC release. Said Alumbaugh in the release: "It's really important that everyone tunes in, especially to our first rewind match. We will be raising money to help those affected by last Sunday's tornadoes."
Golf
The Golf Coaches Association of America has announced its 2020 PING All-Region men's college golf teams, which are made up of the top 15 players in each region based on the individual ranking system, as well as any golfer not in that group but in the top 75 of the Golfstat or Sagarin national rankings. Lee University's Beck Burnette made the NCAA Division II All-South team after having one of the best freshman seasons in Flames history cut short by the COVID-19 outbreak, having posted a 70.69 scoring average in 16 rounds and a top-11 finish in all six events to help his team to a top-10 national ranking. Three Dalton State golfers made the NAIA All-South team: Sport Allmond and Ben Rebne, both seniors from Ringgold and Heritage High School, and Matthew Cleary, a junior from Dalton and Southeast Whitfield High School. All three Roadrunners were recently honored for their success in the Southern States Athletic Conference.
Compiled by Marty Kirkland. Contact him at mirkland@timesfreepress.com.